8th
International Conference |
Contribution
of
Partija
Rada, Serbia & Montenegro
Party
of Work
Country
Report
for
the 8th International Conference of MLPO
Translation
not verified – no publication
In
order to understand better the ups and downs of the class struggle up to now one
has to study the historical example of Yugoslavia. E.g. the entire period from
the emergence of the working class in Yugoslavia, its people’s liberation
struggle, the victory of the socialist revolution and the later degeneration by
Tito-revisionism, the victory of nationalism up to the disintegration of
Yugoslavia.
The
analysis of Tito-revisionism is already part of the history of the working class
movement, and the practice has impressively confirmed the correct positions of
Marxist-Leninists, who had combated this counterrevolutionary
course.
For
this reason we do not deal extensively with this period, but analyze only the
core issues of the causes of the conflicts in Yugoslavia.
We
hold the view that the roots of this conflict can be traced back to the year
1948, to the time of the coup by the Tito-clique and the transition from the
positions of proletarian internationalism to bourgeois nationalism, which
finally led to open nationalism, chauvinism and confrontation between
bureaucratic nationalist elites
Afterwards
Yugoslavia was materially and financially rewarded by the imperialists very
much, especially as the imperialist strived to make it a “shop window” in front
of the socialist block. Yugoslavia became a bulwark of imperialism against the
Soviet Union during the cold war, and later against social
imperialism.
Our
starting point is the realization that all events in the Yugoslavian regions
have their roots in the 50-ies of the last century, so that war and
disintegration in the 90-ies are only the result of a historical process. In
these events also external factors played a part. The end of the cold war and
the end of the rivalry between the two blocks also meant the end of the
assistance from the imperialists – a fact that only accelerated and deepened the
economic crisis.
In
the final phase of this process Pan-Serbian nationalism played a key role, not
because it distinguishes itself from other nationalisms, but because the regime
in Belgrad under the leadership of Slobodan Milosevic disposed of the biggest
concentration of material and military power, making its appetite even greater.
The war lasting for 10 years caused more than 100,000 casualties, nearly half a
million refugees and the destruction of innumerable cities and villages as has
been known.
This
war had shown again that the most rabid nationalists are capable of coming to an
understanding, if their interests are at stake. The best example for this are
the secret negotiations between the Serbian and Croatian leadership about the
division f Bosnia and Herzegovina during the war operations on the territory of
Croatia.
The
Party of Work holds the view that the key point of the confrontation is still
the unsolved national question of the Albanians in the Kosovo. The policy of
Belgrad towards the Kosovo is an extremely reactionary and colonialist one,
independent of the question of who is in government. It governs the Kosovo as
one of its provinces and considers the Albanians as a hostile and inferior
people. Even after the invasion of the NATO into Kosovo the regime in Belgrad
tried to delay the question of independence as long as possible by taking
advantage of the contradictions among the imperialists, in order to get control
of the Kosovo. Presently the regime in Belgrad is exploiting the events in
Kosovo to stabilize itself politically at home. It tries to mobilize the people
on the basis of a unified “patriotic” platform and offers its services to the
imperialists as ally.
For
Marxist-Leninists it was surely one of the most difficult decisions to recognize
the intervention of the imperialist NATO-alliance as an act that in the short
term was in the interest of the peoples of Yugoslavia. This intervention
contributed to stop the bands of soldiers of Milosevic in Bosnia-Herzegovina and
Kosovo. Our party assumes that there was no other power which was in the
position to stop the war, push back the nationalists and prevent the further
spreading of nationalist conflicts. For us the question is whether it is in the
interest of the peoples to continue the war or whether the imperialists can push
through their interests with the military intervention. Undoubtedly, the price
for this decision is rather high, either concerning the liberation of the
Albanian people and the situation of the other peoples of Yugoslavia –
subordination and full dependence frm imperialism and the presence of
NATO-forces on the territory of former Yugoslavia.
Here
we come to the most important question for Marxist-Leninists: Why is the
situation of the working class on the territory of former Yugoslavia so difficult and why
does it not put up resistance worth mentioning to the komprador bourgeoisie and
the attacks of multinational capital at the moment?
Considering
the situation in Serbia and Montenegro we can make out the follwoing
causes:
In
the ideological field:
-
crushing
of the revolutionary party and persecuting of Marxist-Leninists during the 50
years of the existence of Yugoslavia in connection with the influence of
revisionism and anti-communism on the working class;
-
dissemination
of cooperate and petty-bourgeois-anarchist (Prudonov) ideas by the so-called
“workers’ self-administration”;
-
dissemination
of nationalism with fascist elements in the second half of the 80-ies as a “way
out” for the workers of their deteriorating situation and bad social status in
the second Yugoslavia.
In
the economic field:
-
preventing
the complete transition of the working class from small peasants to industrial
workers;
-
preventing
trade-union and other forms of workers’ organizations outside of the control of
the leadership of the enterprises;
-
indeed
the working class has been brought into extreme poverty, the consequences of the
war and the collapse of the economy bring them to the streets as lumpen
proletariat and into a political depression;
-
there
is a growing number of unemployed people (more than 48,000, according to
fragmentary official statistics for the first half of 2004), and the workers are
in a situation in which they are forced to fight for survival in the grey zone
of criminals;
-
actually
the economy is being pressed down and serves the interpenetration by Western
capital by means of privatization or selling out of enterprises. Jobs are
created only in the privatized enterprises, in which the employees are deprived
of al rights;
-
during
the last 10 years nearly nothing has been invested due to wars and their
consequences. Too working class too was not further trained for mastering the
new technologies. Thus, the “technological backwardness” is another ground for
the “”surplus labor”, which is useless for the newly founded
enterprises;
-
the
multinational capital (it is also with regard to its size relatively small due
to the “instable political situation”) has good conditions for an undisturbed
expansion. The weak “nation state” and also the small “national capitalists”
have no chance to offer resistance. The unorganized working class as well can
(cannot?) defend the remains of the formerly achieved rights with its present
consciousness.
Characterization
of the general situation in Serbia and Montenegro:
-
nationalist
ideology, whereby the present nationalism has lost its former aggressive
potential for waging wars in the region; it now serves as a means of protection
for the ruling class and as a means for an easier transition to the support of
NATO in its “global war on terrorism”.;
-
in
addition impoverishment;
-
further
increase in the number of unemployed by 30 per cent in comparison to 2000, the
year of the change;
-
general
decrease in the number of employed persons while the number of those employed in
the multinational companies is increasing;
-
the
integration of the economy into the currents of the multinational
capital.
The
strategic aspect of the situation in the region:
The
region becomes a place of intensified confrontation of interests of the
American, European and Russian imperialism. According to our evaluation
conflicts are erupting here permanently. Russia will be keen to regain its old
position, Europe will try to reduce the influence and the presence of the USA on
the own continent, and the USA will not allow to be driven out there, because of
the access to the Middle East and because its military presence hinders Russia
and Europe.
At
the overthrow of the Milosevic regime in 2000 the workers and a small part of
the peasants figured as a revolutionary element, which was most clearly seen in
the fact that the strike of the miners in Kolubara marked the beginning of the
people’s uprising. At themoment only local economic struggles are taking place,
which are the clear consequences of the lack of a revolutionary party. Small
groups with a revolutionary potential could up to now not fulfill their
historical task.
The
tasks of the Marxist-Leninists are:
-
struggle
for the displacing the nationalist, petty-bourgeois consciousness and criminal
tendencies of the proletariat;
-
propagating
the party; the proletariat is still not conscious about the significance of an
own party; it lacks the consciousness that its own liberation is a political
struggle;
-
preparing
the understanding that the struggle has to be waged against imperialism and that
it is impossible to wage this struggle without the union with the other peoples
of the Balkan;
-
dissemination
of the understanding that imperialism is waging war against other countries of
the Third World on the pretext of the “fight against
terrorism”.
The
Party of Work could – despite of greatest efforts – not yet fulfill its
fundamental task – the building of a strong revolutionary party on the territory
of former Yugoslavia. Our party is still very small in numbers and without
significant influence on the political events and without firmly established
links to the masses. The party will strive to find the right way for the
realization of the interests of the people by means practical work and stresses
the particular significance of the links to the revolutionary parties of
Albania, Turkey, Greek and other countries of the Balkan. In the same way it
will support all parties that prove their revolutionary character in
practice.
Conclusions:
O
the situation in Serbia and Montenegro:
1.
Accelerated
polarization of the society and increased impoverishment of great parts of the
population.
2.
Fast
concentration of capital and the emergence of a new capitalist elite as an
important political factor.
3.
Gradual
penetration of the multinational capital in the economy and increasing
dependency of the economy on this capital.
4.
Complete
political and military control of SDG (Serbia and Montenegro) by
imperialism.
5.
A
working class without orientation and without a strong revolutionary
party.
The
Party of Work thinks that objectively conditions have developed for firm links
of the revolutionary movements and its unification on the Balkan. For
thefollowing reasons we have to start realizing them:
1.
The
solution of the national contradictions on the Balkan cannot be realized by the
regimes of the compradors, of capital or world imperialism; neither can these
contradictions disappear by simply uniting the states. Only the proletarian
revolutionary movement can solve this political task.
2.
All
governments in the Balkan states are totally dependent from imperialism and they
are ready to led themselves abuse by imperialism for the oppression of other
peoples.
3.
The
military presence of NATO on the Balkan is of strategic significance, mainly for
US-imperialism.
4.
The
contradictions and the competition between the European, Russian and American
imperialism on the Balkan have already developed and will increase in the near
future.
5.
The
situation in all countries being in the process of so-called restructuring is
similar and is characterized by the loss of fundamental rights, that had been
achieved by long lasting struggles.
6.
The
lack of a strong revolutionary party (with the exception of Turkey) on the
Balkan-countries.
7.
The
national struggle of the proletariat on the Balkan is doomed to failure under
the present conditions, if it cannot to a great extent rely on the support of
the proletariat of the neighboring countries.
The
Party of Work on the revolutionary movement in the world:
In
our view the Maxist-Leninist movement faces huge tasks after the historical
defeat of revisionism (states). The struggle between labor and capital meanwhile
takes place on a global level and takes on huge dimensions. How can we find the
right answer to the complicated questions, which the present historical
situation poses us, especially as from this answer depends the future of the
Marxist-Leninist movement.
In
our view we are in the period of the III. World War, which American imperialism
has already started, and therefore the Marxist-Leninist movement must all
theoretical contradictions give second priority, mainly the “historical debates”
from a past era. The mutual definition as Maoists, Hodzists and Stalinists
should be replaced by the creation of a movement with the goal of a strong unity
of actin against the attacks of imperialism.
Imperialism
has declared war on the Marxist-Leninist movement, and this war has to be taken
up, otherwise such parties and movements will be destroyed as it happened with
the revisionist parties after the “cold war”.
Which
methods of struggle will be developed by the individual Marxist-Leninist parties
and implemented in practice should be the fundamental criteria for the building
of a unified Marxist-Leninist movement.